


Seventeen

by zarryslovebites



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anal Sex, Bad Boy Zayn, Drugs, Fist Fights, Forbidden Love, Gay Sex, High School Student Harry, M/M, Rebels, zarry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-18
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-02-26 04:19:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2637830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarryslovebites/pseuds/zarryslovebites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry's world was turned upside down when Zayn came into his life, all at the age of seventeen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Crashed

He'd never forget.

He had been fourteen at the time in his sophomore year of high school. It'd be cliche to say that the moment had changed his life, but it did. Little did he know that the moment that had the school talking for just about the rest of the year was the beginning of this new change in his life. He wasn't anybody at the time this happened. He was the one everyone talked about. Not because he was a scandalous person, not because he was a popular jock. He was simply a loser. Not good enough for anyone, everyone better than him. Nobody wanted anything to do with him.

He wasn't physically bullied. No, people knew better than that. Given that his father Daniel Styles, was the President of the small village of Fowler, Michigan (the place was literally so small that it wasn't big enough to even have a mayor) and could just about have any sort of power over them for assaulting his only son. They bullied him with their words, which would leave no  _visible_  traces of abuse. So instead of being thrown into lockers, dumpsters, or punched in the locker rooms, he just heard the whispers and saw the looks people gave him when he walked down the hall.

It wasn't his fault. His father wasn't very well like with the community, mostly because people thought he was a rude and arrogant asshole who only decided on the village's rules based off his own well being rather than the people's. He loved his dad dearly and it hurt him to say that he was the reason why Harry's high school life was a living hell. So since he was alone in high school for the most part, he had to find something else to vent his pain and sorrows to. Music for him gave him a comfort of some sort, a friend, a home. The only friend he had in school was his cousin, Joshua, but he didn't want to drag him to the ground where Harry lay. So he tried to associate with him as little as possible, for Joshua's sake. His mother was his father's sister, so Joshua got to escape the family name Styles and not be trash talked every waking moment. But Joshua was part of the group of people who tormented him everyday. He didn't torment Harry himself no, and he tried as much as he could to stop and stick up for Harry, but it did nothing.

Everyday Harry sat through school daydreaming. He sat and thought of his dreams, which were bigger than this stupid, small town. His dreams were as big as Los Angeles. His dreams were as big as the state of California. He'd make it big there as a performer selling out stadiums every night and every one in this sorry school would be reminded of him and remember how much shit they put him through. On the side of singing, he even though about pursuing an acting career.

But until that time came, he was stuck in the boys' bathroom looking at the mirror at his sorry self. The words that came through the halls echoed in his head.  _Loser, gay, faggot, butt muncher, worthless._  It's not like he was openly gay. Hell, he didn't even come out purposely. Some of the football players had broken into his locker and pulled out all of the contents of it, coming across a class notebook that had the name  _Zayn Malik_  written in small print on the inside of the cover with a heart beside it. 

All the players had come to their conclusions (which were correct) and his sexuality had become known to the whole school. He didn't prance around proudly about it, that'd only give the school more gas to light the fire. He kept it to himself, not letting anyone know about his love for the arts and his dream to become a famous singer. Then they'd find him as a flamboyant, stereotypical gay and if that were the case then the torment he went through daily would be a thousand times worse.

As he splashed some cold water on his face to try and make him look more alive, he heard shouting in the hallway. It was yelling and he heard a few girly screams as well. As he ran towards the bathroom door and looked out, it was then that he saw the scene that would play over and over in his mind for quite awhile.

It was Zayn Malik, the boy who had indirectly been the reason of his grand outing. The quarterback of the football team and used to be boyfriend of the head cheerleader, Lacy Foster. They were your typical high school couple. They were both standing in the hallway surrounded by the principal, Mr. Hufnagel, the secretary Mrs. Piggott, a school security guard and a police officer that flanked school grounds. Harry could tell that Zayn was going to punch the police officer and just run away if the teachers didn't back off soon.

"Zayn, I believe you should really calm down," Mr. Hufnagel tried to coax him.

_"I'm not going to fucking calm down!"_ Zayn roared and his voice travelled down the hallways across the school. Zayn Malik was a senior and the man of all the girl's dreams at the school. He was popular, handsome, talented and smart. His personality was so energetic, it was no wonder why everyone loved him. He was medium height with jet black hair and warm hazel eyes, and his smile. His smile lit up his world and he wanted to capture it in a picture and post it everywhere. If Harry wasn't gay in the first place, then Zayn would've been the reason why he'd be. 

The reason why Zayn was acting like this was far from what he knew. Zayn was the talk of the town, he was the star of the town. But over the past few weeks, he had been different. He'd fallen off the charts. Lately the rumors that were usually reserved for him, he'd had been hearing about Zayn. Nobody knew what had went wrong but according to what he had heard, he'd turn to drugs. But this small town was a rumor and gossip mill, you never really could believe what you heard. He had heard that he dumped Lacy and quit the football team, abandoning the team and his friends. Harry never in a million years could have believed any of that to be true. He didn't really stay up to date on the activities in the school. But as he stared down the hall and watched the scene unfold before him, he was starting to think maybe the gossip wasn't all that wrong for once.

"The whole school can rot in hell for all I care," he yelled once more as students started filing out of classrooms to witness what was going on.

Seeing all the people must have set him off because he then punched the glass window wall to the office, sending glass shards everywhere. As he was closest to him and the teachers, he could see Zayn's face up close since he was right across the hall. As he looked up for a split second in Harry's direction, they made eye contact for the tiniest second and Harry could see all the pain and emotion in Zayn's eyes. It made him shiver as Zayn looked back towards the teachers.

"Zayn, we can't help you if you don't take a breath and talk to us," Mrs. Piggott told him patiently. The security guard and police officer were starting to close in on Zayn and Harry could see the that Zayn was about to snap.

"None of you can help me anymore. I'm done with all of you pieces of trash and this worthless hell hole."  Zayn said emotionless as he stormed past the teachers and down the hall. As he walked past Harry, he could see the tear that was rolling down his cheek as he walked out of the front entrance of the school for the last time. 

That was when Zayn Malik had collided and crashed.


	2. Everything

Harry remembered that day every time he would see Zayn around the school grounds. Despite the fact that it happened two years ago, he still remembered the details, all of them. Harry was now a senior, his last year of school and Zayn had dropped out those two years ago when he crashed in the halls. He still hung around school grounds even though he was twenty years old, if Harry calculated the math right. Most people in town thought that it was weird and that he needed to find  a hobby of some sort, but Harry liked the fact that he did. It gave Harry a chance to see him just about everyday, even if it was about from thirty yards away. He wasn't allowed in the school, so he'd park his motorcycle on the corner in front of the school and his friends would crowd around him. Most of the friends he had in his class had graduated and moved on, so all the underclassmen he hung with are the group he hangs out with now. His cousin Josh was one of them. With his cousin basically being Zayn's right hand man, Harry would easily have easy access to being able to talk to Zayn. But Harry already was embarrassed by what happened those few years ago and he didn't know if Zayn had ever found out about Harry's crush or if he even knew. But if he had forgotten he wasn't going to be reminded and if he never knew, he's not going to find out now.

He may have been the black sheep of the town but he still made Harry weak in the knees and his curiousity for him blocked out the negative comments from not only the whole town, but also his father.

_"He's a disgrace to this town. He's a hoodlum, a criminal and he disturbs the peace. If I had the power to banish someone from here, it'd be his ass and I'd send it far, far away. Running around on that obnoxious motor contraption of his, disturbs the quietness of this town. Who does he think he is?! I know he deals with drugs and I swear the first time he is caught with possession, I am slamming his no good sorry ass right into the slammer and he'll be there for as long as I live!"_

He sighed and and began admiring Zayn as he stood over by his bike leaning against it, cigarette in hand and blowing puffs of smoke out of his mouth. Smoking was so disgusting and Harry despised it, but Zayn made it look so hot. It made himself look even more attractive, as if that were possible. Standing next to his bike, cigarette hanging off his lips, leather jacket clinging to his broad frame, white tshirt clinging to his body, black skinny jeans and combat boots. His bad-boy image was too much for Harry to handle and he had to will his eyes away before he got lightheaded.

As much as Harry loved his father, he had to admit that he was way too overprotective. Most of it was that the town already hated his father enough that Harry had to keep his image clean because if the President of the town had an out of control son, then he'd be under more fire than he already was. His mother wasn't as uptight as his father though. She was the one who encouraged him to go out and wasn't too concerned as to who he hung out with because she knew that Harry was smart and mature enough to make the right choices. 

But pretty soon Harry wouldn't have to worry about this anymore. He was to turn eighteen within a few months and in May he'd be out of here and starting off in California, contrary to his father's wishes. He didn't know whether to break the news to him or just go off without a word when the time came, but at least he'd have his mother's blessing if so you should call it.

Harry finally exited the back doors out of the school into the crisp 'just ending of winter beginning of spring' weather as he tugged at his jacket a little bit more and headed to the back parking lot to get to his car. He saw Zayn in the back corner of the lot, surrounded by a whole bunch of looking to be maybe freshman or sophomore girls draping themselves over him like the sluts they were. He figured that the rumors about him sleeping with every girl he could get were true, as he was watching it happen almost with his two eyes. So he figured that the rumors of him selling drugs, getting kicked out of his house and his drinking issue were true as well.

As he saw a medium height blonde girl graciously touch and cling to Zayn, he noticed that the girl was in his class. Tori, was her name and he couldn't stand her one bit. She was fake, annoying as hell, and probably about the biggest whore in the whole school. The fact that Zayn was flirting with her and he was twenty and she was seventeen and underage totally disgusted him. But then he was jealous of the fact that he was flirting with her and not him and he then thought of the fact he was the exact same age and had the desire to be flirted with by Zayn, and he became a bit hypocritical.

 _But why would he flirt with me? He's not even on my same team._ Harry sighed as he finally made it to his car and unlocked the door, throwing his bag into the backseat. Throughout his whole high school career, he hadn't had a boyfriend. Partially because at the time no one knew of his sexuality and that he was the only gay person in the whole school. Hell, probably even the whole town. Harry also wasn't the one to go out and put himself out there so he didn't float around to other towns in search of finding someone. He wasn't quite concerned at the matter. Maybe he'd find someone in California, maybe he wouldn't. 

He sadly sighed and pulled out his keys from his pocket so he could head home. Sometimes he gave vocal lessons on Tuesdays to a co-worker of his mother's daughter, but they had texted him cancelling earlier today saying that they had a doctor's appointment. So he'd be heading home today to his usual routine of being alone. 

His phone going off stopped him from entering the key into the ignition as he pulled it from his other pocket to see who it was. Of course it was from his mother. 

"Hello?" He answered disappointingly. 

"Hi honey, if you haven't left school yet, if Josh is still around, can you ask him about dinner tonight? See if him, Aunt Liz, Uncle Mike are coming and if they're bringing Lily?"

Harry looked out of the car windshield and gulped nervously as he saw his cousin Josh walk from the outside weight room and across the parking lot to where Zayn and his group were standing.

"Uh, yeah, I can. I'll text you the answer." He felt his palms get sweaty. That meant he had to go over  _there_.

"Thank you Harry. See you when you get home." His mother hung up the phone.

He got out of his car slowly and his heart beat against his chest louder and louder with every step he took. He needed to calm down because he couldn't make a fool of himself in front of Zayn. As he was within feet of the group, he mentally slapped himself for making this stupid decision when he could've just texted Josh the question. But it was too late now.

He cleared his throat as he walked up to the group and stood behind one of the guys. "Uh, hey, Joshua." A few guys here were in his class but he didn't pay any attention to them and he noticed one of them was a junior, in the grade below him. He saw Zayn flicking the ash off his cigarette and look away from the group of girls trying to flirt with him and they retreated looking disappointed as the headed towards their cars.

"Just call me Josh, Harry we've been over this plenty of times." His cousin complained.

"Whatever, just stop complaining, you're acting like a middle schooler." Harry bit back and he heard the guys chuckle. He didn't mean to be so rude but he was nervous around Zayn's presence and he just wanted to run back to his car. "Mom wanted to know if you guys were coming to dinner or not."

"Hey, Josh," Zayn payed attention to Harry's presence and looked at him blatantly in approval, just noticing him being there. "Didn't know that you went that way and you got a date tonight." 

Harry flushed at the fact that Zayn thought he was Josh's date.

"No way in hell, this is my  _cousin_. We're having dinner at his place tonight because my mom and his dad are  _siblings._  That's disgusting. Anyway, Zayn this is Harry, Harry this is Zayn. Don't know if you know each other."

"No, I don't think we do. You're like two years ahead of me so I don't think we ever talked." Harry tried to keep his voice from squeaking. He felt so nervous, Zayn was finally knowing who he was, this is all he's dreamed of his life.

Zayn puffed out another cloud of smoke, "I think I know you, or at least heard of you. You're the one who had this little gay crush on me aren't you? Had my name written in your notebook or something?"

All the color fell from his face and he felt like he was going to throw up. He knew he should've just texted Josh and left the school grounds, God, he was so stupid!

He ignored Zayn and turned back to Josh, "Are you coming or not?" Harry asked impatiently as he just needed to flee from the scene.

"Yes Mr. Grumpy Pants, we'll be there. Don't bite me." Josh chuckled at his cousin.

"Okay then. See you at dinner." Harry nodded quickly and waved a goodbye before turning around and speeding quickly back to his car.

"Wait up, Larry!" Zayn called after him.

Harry stopped in his tracks and he felt his chest tighten. He turned back around and saw Zayn walking to him. "It's Harry, actually."

"Harry, same thing." He scoffed as he came face to face with him. Harry felt the breath in his throat hitch.  _God, he was beautiful._  "You want a smoke?"

Harry blinked his eyes a few times at realization of what Zayn had just asked him. "Uh, no, I don't do that."

Zayn now had an arrogant smile on his face and God how this boy made him weak in the knees, he felt pathetic.

"Alright, well I have some marijuana if that's more down your lane." 

"I don't do drugs at all." Harry said with more authority in his voice. "I have bigger and better dreams than this hell hole and if I start with things like that," he pointed at the death stick in Zayn's mouth, "then I won't be able to become big and go on stage and prove all these stupid, no good, low life assholes in this school and town off. And it's absolutely disgusting, like why do you want yellow teeth and tarred up lungs."

Zayn scoffed in amusement but there was something about him that made Harry feel a bit uneasy. He could see the red flags flying in the distance and if his father ever found out that he was this close and interacting with the town criminal, Harry would be on the next plane out to the farthest country possible for some boarding school. 

Zayn looked at Harry while he blew in a drag of his cigarette before then blowing a cloud of smoke straight into his face. The smoke came in and burned his eyes and brought them to tears and the toxic smoke creeped into his nostrils and entered his lungs, making his throw up into a coughing fit. He couldn't breathe and he felt like he had just swalled fire as he tried breathing out for fresh air to sooth his burning senses. Zayn's laugh boomed around him as real tears started slowly dripping out of his eyes from the humiliation that the boy who he had fawned after and tried to see the good in for years just caused him.

Everything everyone said about him was right. He was an arrogant jerk who acted like he was better than everyone, when really he was a worthless piece of crap that was  _below_  everyone. He had never felt more humiliated or so little in his life, all the torment he went through everyday was nothing compared to this. And something in him was triggered and lit as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in anger. 

 _"Who do you think you are?!"_  He yelled out as he picked up one of his fists and threw it at Zayn's face with all the power he had. He literally  _felt_  and heard the horrific sound of bone cracking and then a shock of pain run up his arm as he looked at his fist to see a bruise already forming. He heard gasps and murmers of profanities from Josh and his group of friends and he could see he made an impact on Zayn as well because he was crouched down onto his knees, face in hands and he saw a few drops of wetness fall onto the pavement below them. 

And to top it all off, Harry felt no shame in what he had done.

"I don't know who you think you are and I've tried to push aside what everyone else has thought of you and I've tried giving you a chance. But now I see that you're just like what everyone's said you are to be, but it was truly a waste of my time." Harry seethed as he tried not to pay mind to the numbing pain in his hand. Zayn finally stood straight up with nothing but a look of shock on his face. "I'll see you tonight, Josh." And at that Harry turned once more and he stomped off back to his car, not turning back to even glance at Zayn to see how he was.

Zayn stood there with bewilderment in his eyes as he watched the first and only person to  _ever_  confront or lay a hand on him just walked away after they'd just punched him in the face walk away. And damn, did that boy have an arm.

"Ross," Zayn called out as he threw his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it to put it out, "so that cousin of yours."

"Yeah, what about him?" Josh broke out of his trance.  _Did his cousin really just punch_ THE  _Zayn Malik?_

"Tell me about him." Zayn said as he walked back to the group.

"Uh, what do you wanna know?" Josh asked with confusion.

Zayn couldn't help the smile that came onto his face as he rubbed at his sore jaw, "Everything."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bad boy Zayn makes me feel things, ya know?


	3. 3 - Curiosity

He was so stupid and he felt so humiliated.

The scene that just happened kept replaying over and over in Harry's head and he wanted to punch  _himself_ in the face and cry and never stop. So he pulled over to the side of the road because he felt the tears start to burn his eyes and the water was starting to blur his vision a little. The pain in his hand was starting to become noticeable because all of his adrenaline in his body was washing away and he then looked at the clock in his car which reminded him of the lessons he was supposed to give being it almost four o'clock. Knowing that he was in no shape to teach and nor was he going to make it on time, he called to cancel his lessons.

Composing himself and trying to shove the thoughts of Zayn Malik and the occurrence out of his mind, he got back onto the road and continued home, ignoring the thoughts of how bad he just messed up floating around in his head. When he got home, just his mother was home starting dinner in the kitchen. His father was still at the office and wouldn't get home until later. 

"Hello, Harry. Is Josh coming for dinner tonight?" She asked as she looked back from the stove at Harry's footsteps. Noticing Harry's annoyed look on his face she asked her son, "What's wrong, darling?"

"Yes, they're coming over," Harry huffed as he dropped his backpack onto the floor and went to the fridge to get a can of pop out. As he went to open the fridge with his right hand, he winced in pain and clenched his teeth in anger at Zayn for having such a hard face and opened it with his left hand. "And nothing, just frustrated with homework." 

"Anything you'd like to talk about?" Denise asked as she turned back around and began stirring whatever was in the pot on the stove.

Harry knew he could trust his mother with anything. She wouldn't blow a head gasket or run to his dad about anything, but he really didn't want to talk. He just wanted some aspirin for the pain in his hand.

"No, I'm just gonna start on this homework. I'll be down later for dinner." Harry grabbed his backpack and went to open his can until he realized that'd require using his hand and that'd result in pain. "Mom, can you open this?" 

His mom turned and gave Harry a strange look but left the stove and took the can from Harry and opened it and handed it back. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, just felt lazy. Heading upstairs now." Harry took his belongings with him and headed to the stairs and up to his room.

Once reaching his room he set down his bag and kicked off his shoes, put his drink on his nightstand and fell awkwardly onto his bed face first, trying not to hurt his hand. He buried his face into the pillows and flashes of Zayn's face as he laughed at Harry while he choked on the smoke played in his mind. He can't believe he ever thought good of Zayn Malik. He really was nothing but a cruel, demonic like person who thought he was the shit and had the face of a God that drew you in and wouln't let you escape. He didn't want anything to do with him and he regrets ever landing a crush on the jerk. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Sitting up and grabbing it with his right hand was a bad idea and switching to his left he saw the caller ID was his only friend Megan Walker's name appear. Megan was the only other person he associated with and she was the only one who didn't torture him or make his life a living hell and didn't care if she got the harsh words that were thrown at Harry for hanging out with him.

"Hello?" He asked, glad that his thoughts could be pulled away from Zayn.

"Did you really punch  _Zayn Malik_  in the face?" Megan asked and Harry's vibe was officially killed.

"Maybe, how did you find out?" Harry groaned and fell back onto the pillows.

"Harry, everyone knows about it. Do you know how small this town is? Shit spreads like wildfire around here." Megan laughed and Harry groaned again, "Seriously though, what happened? You punched his face, Harry! You punched the love of your life!"

Harry's teeth gritted in aggravation at Megan's last words, "He's an asshole and I punched him because he pissed me off. And he's also  _not_ the love of my life. I regret ever thinking he was cute. He has such an  _ugly_ personality."  He then proceeded to tell her about what went down and by the end he was annoyed of having to hear Megan's seal-like laughter.

"Way to go Harry, I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself. Although from what I hear, he's not a very happy camper because of it. Guess he has a massive bruise covering his face." Harry gulped down the lump in his throat at the fact that Zayn was mad and it was because of  _him_. He wouldn't put it past him to come looking for Harry for some revenge. His life was probably in danger and he had this nagging urge to go lock all the doors in the house and board up the windows. Maybe if he said something to his dad that'd be enough reason to get a restraining order and some bodyguards.

"Well, I'll punch him again if that means he keeps his humongous ego and dirty attitude away from me." 

"Feisty Harry has made an appearance today, woah. But keep going at it, next time I wanna watch." Megan laughed and Harry smiled. He heard the door open and close downstairs which meant his dad was home and dinner was going to be soon. He should probably get ready for their company.

"Don't count on it, Megs. But Dad's home and Josh and his parents are coming for dinner so I gotta go. I'll text you or something."

"Alright, just don't get into another fight alright?" Megan laughed and Harry hung up the phone.

Harry got up and went downstairs to say hello to his dad and then proceeded back upstairs so he could shower and change. He took two pills of aspirin first to help his throbbing hand and wrist. 

~

His aunt, uncle, and two cousins arrived a little while after he had gotten out of the shower and he was downstairs helping set the table with his mother. But as Josh walked in the door he had a proud smile on his face and Harry couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

"Well isn't it my amazing Aunt Denise and Uncle Daniel! You'll never guess what your son did today!" His voice boomed through the house as they all sat down at the table.

Harry's heart stopped and his eyes went wide as he glared at his cousin, "Joshua I don't think this is the time."

"C'mon, Harry this is something you can't  _not_ tell." Josh smiled as everyone was now staring at him and Harry felt sick.

"Harry, what's going on and what is your cousin talking about?" His dad asked with a sour look on his face.

Harry shook his head to signal to drop it but Josh spoke anyway. "Well your son here, Mister Harold Styles has a nice right hand hook none of us knew about and punched  _Zayn Malik_  in the face!" Josh announced proudly and started into a holler of laughter. 

"You did  _what_?" His father asked, not so kindly, his face starting to turn a little red in anger.

"I may or may not have -"

"That's it! Denise get my phone I'm calling the police, did he harass you? Damn it, I knew he'd do something that'd set me off, I'm clearing him a cell at the county jail!" Daniel pounded his fists onto the table.

"Alright, Daniel, let's settle down a little," His mom interjected, "I don't think we should go that far quite yet."

"It's not a big deal, Father. He didn't do anything, he just was acting like an animal and I decided to punch him and well it worked didn't it because he's left me alone. It's not like I plan on associating with him on a daily basis. I don't even plan on talking to him or acknowledging him anymore." Harry rolled his eyes and clenched his good hand in anger with just the thought of their encounter earlier. It seemed to be the right words to say because his father was starting to relax.

"How unfortunate given that he seems to want to keep talking to you after you left." Josh muttered under his breath and Harry elbowed him in the side as to keep quiet. Luckily no one heard him and they kept eating, forgetting about the news and making small talk.

~

The whole dinner Harry couldn't help but want to know what Zayn said about him. Yes, he said he wasn't going to talk to him again but he just told his father that to make him happy and he just wanted to know what Zayn thought. It was probably bad things and Harry wouldn't talk to him anyway. 

So after dinner Harry said that he and Josh would do dishes and Josh gave him a dirty look as to say  _what the hell?_  So everyone left the room to talk in the living room and that left Harry and Josh alone. Harry started washing and that left Josh to dry.

"So what'd he say?" Harry asked curiously, trying not to sound too excited.

"Kept asking about you and wanted to know stuff about you, things like that."

"Well? And? Was he mad? He probably wanted to know where I live so he could beat me up, dear Lord, Joshua,  _please_  tell me you didn't give him my address!" Harry begged.

"Calm down, Harry, no. He was curious I'd say. I told him how old you were and stuff and mentioned about how you sang and about your goals and dreams of California. I didn't say a whole lot because well it was weird talking about my cousin. But you're better than him, Cuz and that's me saying this."

A smile grew on Harry's face as he washed a plate and he nudged Josh playfully. "Well thank you for telling me something I already knew. I don't plan on associating with him again anyway so ya know, thanks anyway."

"Well I mean, not talking is going to be hard because he wants you to come with us tonight." Josh paused as he tried stacking some plates nicely without falling. "Some local concert in Lansing, some punk rock band playing and he wants you to come."

Harry stiffened and ended up dropping the fork he had in his hand back into the soapy water. "He  _what_? No, you're joking. Josh, why would he do that?! No!" Harry sputtered mindlessly as he searched for the fork.

"I don't know, Harry. Maybe because you punched him in the fucking face and knocked some of his brains out as well!"

"It's probably a trap. He's gonna get his own good swing in when we get there and he wants revenge."

"You're so over dramatic. I don't know if you should go anyway. It's a Friday night and I can't remember the last time you've even gone out..."

Harry rolled his eyes and flicked some of the soap from his hands onto his cousin's face. "Shut up. I don't even know if Dad would let me go."

"Harry, you're almost an adult, stop being stuck so far up Daddy's ass! Go out and live a little! And go out so I can get Malik out of my ass and have some fun!" Josh huffed and dried another dish.

Harry thought for a minute and as much as he hated Zayn right now and didn't want to talk to him, who was he kidding? He wasn't over Zayn just like that and Zayn wanted him to go out and Harry's been dreaming about this  _forever_. He wasn't going to decline the offer. And besides, his mother would let him go. 

"Whatever. Finish drying." Harry gave in and Josh finished the last few dishes before pulling out his phone.

"Well, I'm going to go upstairs and uh, change. Yeah change," Harry mumbled nervously as he left the kitchen and went upstairs to his room, leaving Josh alone to do the last of the drying. 

Once he was locked in his bedroom, he ran over to his dresser and started to pull out random pieces of clothing. He wanted to stand out but not look like he tried to hard. He'd been waiting for this day for  _years_  and his time had finally come. He had to make a comeback and good impression, especially since his humiliating encounter today. He knew he wouldn't get anywhere because this is Zayn Malik and Zayn is the farthest bit from gay but he still could look good and who knows? Maybe Zayn would get drunk and maybe he'd get lucky and steal a kiss.

"You're getting ahead of yourself, Styles." Harry muttered to himself as he had now stripped out of his clothes and was now clad in his boxers. 

He had already been in here ten minutes and the only thing he had gotten out was a pair of ripped skinny jeans. Getting put under pressure on time, he just went with his dark wash skinny jeans, a black long sleeve and a black  _Colombia_ jacket. Putting on a clean pair of socks and white converse, he put on his airplane necklace and ruffled up his hair a little to give it a messy look and went back downstairs to where everyone was waiting.

As Harry got downstairs to the living room, his dad was the first one to speak, "Harry, I really don't think you should go out tonight."

Harry went to protest but his mother cut him off, "But your father's opinion isn't important tonight and I'm saying go for it. Josh will watch out for you and you're old enough to handle yourself, so have fun."

 "Denise, I really -"

"Daniel, he's going. Josh and Harry are both trustworthy and old enough to handle themselves. They're just going out for a bit and they'll be back by at least midnight sound fair?"

"I suppose." His father huffed and sighed in defeat against his wife.

"Alright, sounds awesome! Let's go Harry, they're waiting for us." Josh pulled his keys out of his pocket and started towards the door.

 "Make sure you boys be careful! I don't want to hear it from your uncle Daniel if something happens, Joshua!" Aunt Liz called out.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll be fine." Josh muttered under his breath and the two boys both left the house to Josh's car.

As Harry got in the car and buckled himself in, he couldn't help but start to feel the butterflies in his stomach start up and he thought  _this is really happening._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> zayn was thinking about harry eh?


	4. Knight In Shining Armor

Harry couldn't sit still as he sat in the passenger seat of Josh's car. He was fidgety, getting uncomfortable being restrained from the seat belt. He kept tapping his fingers against his thighs, staring out the window.

"Can you please sit still? You're distracting me from driving. With your fingers tapping and everything," Josh grumbled, driving down the highway.

"Sorry," Harry blushed nervously.

"Don't know why you're so nervous anyway. I mean, I know you don't get out much, but still."

"I'm worried about getting floored by the punches Zayn's going to throw my way." Harry confessed, chewing his bottom lip.

"Lord, Harry. Zayn's not going to beat you up. I wouldn't let him do that anyway."

That made Harry feel a bit better. He knew Joshua wouldn't let harm come his way. He knew that.

 

~

 

They arrived at the arena forty-five minutes after they left the house. Joshua found parking across the street, so they parked and ran across the street, dodging traffic. Once they got to the front entrance, Josh led them to the ticket office and bought two general admission tickets. 

"Alright, stay by me the whole time, alright? We're gonna stay towards the back of the crowd. They get pretty crazy the more you get towards the stage." Josh told him and Harry nodded. Harry didn't have any plans of steering away from his cousin anyway.

Josh led them into the arena and they walked to one of the concessions to grab some bottled water. Afterwards, they made their way into the main part of the arena where the show would happen. It was about to start.

Once the show started, even though they were in the back, it was still crazy. Harry was more into indie and softer music. This was punk rock, hard rock, some sort of intense rock music. Guys were shirtless everywhere and girls were wearing half shirts and barely there shorts. Couples were making out left and right, despite a show going on. Harry wanted to know where Zayn was, but there were too many people to spot a certain one. Harry was going to ask Josh if Zayn was even coming, but he was too busy rocking his head back and forth while playing his air guitar to notice him. So he patiently waited, awkwardly standing while getting bumped into from side to side.

A few songs later, after Harry had finished off his water, he turned to Josh, who was putting his phone back into his pocket.

"Matt and Cole are up there front row. Says the lead guitarist is throwing out some guitar picks. I'm gonna go up there for a little bit and try to get one. You stay  _right here_. Hear me, Harry? Stay right here. I'll be back!" Josh shouted over the screaming people.

All Harry heard out of that was something about front row, but staying here. "What? Who's front row?" He tried yelling back, but Josh was already leaving.

Harry was starting to get nervous because he didn't do well in crowds, but now without Josh, he was starting to get scared. Before his breathing picked up, Harry turned to try and get out of the crowd, but the current of people was too strong and he ended up getting pushed back. The more Harry tried to fight the people, the more the people fought and pushed him back. Pretty soon he was completely engulfed by the crowd and he was being shoved back and forth. Hands were flying, fist pumping in the air, and one ended up hitting him, knocking him in the jaw. Harry winced in pain and his hand flew to his jaw, trying to ease the pain. But in the process, he accidentally hit someone. They looked back at him and shoved him, knocking him into someone else. He yelled, out of slight pain from his jaw and from fright. The person he was shoved into grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and shoved him to the ground. Along with his collar, the person got a hold of Harry's necklace and yanked that off. Harry's journey to the ground was rough. He felt like that metal ball in those machines that get hit from side to side. Someone kicked him in the head and if that wasn't enough to make him cry in pain, the step on his ankle sure did. He cried out loudly in pain, but he couldn't even hear himself over the music.

Harry felt weak as he lay there and someone was grabbing him off the floor, yet he didn't have the strength to fight back. As he was being pulled up, someone had their foot on Harry's jacket sleeve and Harry;s arm was yanked out of the sleeve. With his jacket half off, he was carried over someone's shoulder and was being shoved out of the crowd. Along the way, someone hooked onto the other sleeve of the jacket and it was pulled off. Harry didn't have the strength to care.

He and whoever had grabbed him were finally out of the main part of the arena and were now walking through where the concessions were. They then were walking out of the arena entrance and that's when Harry felt the cold chill of the night. He found the strength to care for his missing jacket.

Harry was finally set down on the ground and he winced a little when he landed on his sore ankle. He looked at the person to thank them for basically saving his life. He almost fell backward when he realized that the person who basically saved his life was  _Zayn Malik._

"Wow," Harry said feeling a little light-headed, "Zayn?" Harry blinked a few times, to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks. Harry felt embarrassed as he stood there. He was dirty from that disgusting floor, probably a little bruised from the kicks and hits. Harry kept staring and Zayn stared back, clenching his jaw and looking at Harry like he was going to break him or something.

"What the fuck were you doing in there? Trying to kill yourself or something?" He asked, his voice more harsh than sincere. Although Harry doesn't think he was trying to be sincere.

"No," Harry shook his head, which was a bad idea because he felt a headache creeping. "I was actually trying to get out of the crowd. Instead I got pulled in." Harry answered, feeling slightly embarrassed and small. He wish he would've kept his mouth shut and not talk to Zayn like he said we wasn't going to. Harry looks like a fool now. Harry peered up from the ground he was looking at to look at Zayn. The outside lights were big and bright, so he could see every detail on Zayn. He was wearing all black; black T-shirt, black skinny jeans and black combat boots along with a black leather jacket. Harry could see chest tattoos peeking out of the shirt. A pair of red lips and some halves of angel wings on each side. Harry refrained from biting his lip to show any reaction.

"Why the hell were you in there in the first place?" Zayn's gentling facial expressions were now hardening again.

"It's a funny thing actually, I was actually told to come by  _you._ So you're the reason I'm here and was in there in the first place." Harry found his tongue again and crossed his arms. Partially for show and partially because he was cold.

"Well regardless of whether it was somehow  _my_ fault, I saved you from it. And all you can do is pout and stomp around." Zayn rolled his eyes and sneered.

"Thank you," Harry said, trying to clench his teeth to stop the smile that wanted to come about.

"What're you trying to smile for?" Zayn asked, confused.

"No reason," Harry simply said, not going to explain further. But Zayn wouldn't stop staring, so he continued. "I punched you in the face earlier and to be quite honest, you were pissed when I left. I don't know, it's just kind of funny I guess."

"So you think you deserved for me to let you get your nose kicked in and your legs broken?" Zayn exasperated, clearly confused.

"Well, I mean, I'm not sure. I punched you in the face and heard you were angry, so I thought you hated me and wanted to kill me."

Zayn's stare softened, and Harry thought he almost spotted a hint of a smile. "Haven't decided yet."

Harry smiled a little and he rubbed his hands over his arms that were still crossed. Harry watched as Zayn took off his leather jacket and stepped towards him.

"Open your arms," Zayn murmured and Harry slowly obeyed. Zayn put one arm in one sleeve and the other arm in the other sleeve and put his jacket on Harry. Harry was in complete awe. This wasn't the same Zayn he punched in the parking lot, was it?

"Oh, thank you," Harry whispered as Zayn stepped back, "you really don't have to." The jacket was almost his size, just a little bigger. He brought his shoulder up to his nose and nuzzled his face into it. It smelled of cologne, faintly of cigarettes and laundry detergent. He instantly loved it.

"Yeah, I do. You look cold." Zayn stood there, now in nothing but his shirt and jeans. Harry could now fully see his arms and Harry internally groaned. Zayn had a long sleeve of tattoos on his right arm. A big " _"ZAP!"_ tattoo was on there, along with a microphone he spotted, a large boombox, and a half of a snake he could see just glancing. There were more on his left arm, but he had to look away. He couldn't stare any longer or else his lip that he started biting would bleed.

Zayn's cough was the first to break the silence. "I'm sorry,"

Harry was knocked from his trance as he payed attention to what Zayn was saying. "For what? Saving me?"

Zayn shook his head, "no from earlier. For being a dickhead and blowing that smoke in your face."

Harry just nodded his head, "well I punched you in the face afterwards, so we can call it even. And you haven't killed me for it, so I should thank you for that." He saw Zayn smile a bit and Harry couldn't stop himself from letting a smile show too.

"I'm not going to kill you. So you can stop worrying about that. Got a nice right hook though, I'll give you that."

Harry felt his face heat up. He was standing here having a conversation with  _Zayn Malik_ after he was technically invited to come out with him and after he was saved from a mob crowd by  _Zayn Malik_ himself. Not to mention he was getting complimented by him. There was a catch, Harry knew it. No one got off this easy.

"Well, my dad taught me. Something about self-defense and all. Haven't had to use them yet, before today. Even despite all the bullying and torture I get at school. I just let it go.There's not much you can do when someone just talks about you and doesn't touch you." Harry shrugged his shoulders, starting to grow embarrassed telling Zayn about his bulling problems.

Zayn looked at him, scrunching his eyebrows, "people make fun of you? Why?"

Harry couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Well, when your dad is the President of the town and absolutely  _no one_ likes him because he's selfish and self-centered, I get a lot of the wrap for it. It also doesn't help that well, people found out that I was gay and now that's paraded around the school, even though I don't publicly flaunt it myself."

"Wait a minute," Zayn awkwardly scratched his neck, becoming fidgety, " _you're_ Mr. Styles son?"

Harry slowly nodded, "oh, yeah," Harry thought he knew? I mean yeah, Josh probably didn't talk about him a lot but before he took him out, Josh didn't tell Zayn?"

"Ha," Zayn chuckled, "he doesn't like me at all,"

"Yeah, he's not your number one fan," Harry laughed nervously.

"So what're you out here for then? Going against Papa's rules? Hanging out with me to get back at him?" Zayn teased, a smirk very much present on his face. God, why was he was so attractive?

"No," Harry let out slowly, "I mean, Joshua said you wanted me to come out, so I came. I thought you invited me sort of, so I didn't want to -" Harry stopped talking because now it seemed that Zayn didn't want him to come. He was going to  _murder_ Joshua for this.

"I did say that to Ross," Zayn nodded, stepping closer to Harry. Harry gulped, the gap between them  _way_ smaller than it was before. Sure, there was a short arm's length between them, but the mood was different. It was calm, Zayn wasn't being arrogant and Harry wasn't swinging hands. But there was something in Zayn's eye and A blockage of air in Harry's throat. He could smell Zayn, or maybe it was his jacket, he didn't know. But the scent was stronger and Harry was getting weaker.

"H-how did you f-find me?" Harry stumbled out, trying to catch his breath. "In the crowd. There's like hundreds of people in there. I was in the middle."

Zayn licked his bottom lip while staring at Harry and Harry felt like he was going to keel over. "I just texted Ross asking where he was earlier. I was actually about to approach you guys when he left and you were standing there. I was going to come and get you, seeming you looked a bit lost. But you were sucked in before I could reach you. But I shoved a few people and got to you eventually. Sorry I couldn't get there before you got hurt." 

By now, Zayn was past the barrier of Harry's personal bubble and Harry once again lost his breath, "i-it's okay. You saved me, that's all t-that matters," Harry was mentally punching himself for stuttering. But the fact that he could feel Zayn's breath on his face wasn't helping the fact that he was about to fall over.

Before they could say anything else, "Harry!" was shouted from the arena entrance.

Zayn turned around and Harry looked around Zayn to find Joshua awkwardly galloping over to them. As he approached the two, you could tell he was a bit off, his shirt rumpled and askew and he had the biggest smile on his face.

"First off," Josh said, trying to regain his breath, "I thought I told you to stay there?! I thought I fucking lost you! Uncle Daniel would have my ass if I lost you!" He shouted, the smile not as visible as before.

"Well, since  _you_ left me, Zayn over here was nice enough to save me." Harry snapped back, angry that Josh was yelling at him for his own neglect. _  
_

Josh went quiet, knowing he had nothing to say to that. "Well, I should probably get you home. Don't want to push it with Uncle Dan. Thank God your mother isn't as uptight as your dad or else I'd kill myself for you."

"Well, alright then," Harry didn't realize they had to leave right away, but Josh was right.

"Thanks for getting him Zayn. Owe you won," Josh gave Zayn some sort of bro hug.

"Wasn't a problem at all. Don't worry about it." Zayn looked over to Harry and he felt his heart flutter as Zayn winked at him.  _Winked._ At  _him._ _  
_

They waved and Josh started walking, Harry following along after a beat.

"Bye, Harry. See you soon." Zayn called after him, quietly.

Harry stopped and turned around, "Bye Zayn. Goodight." Sending a wave and a small smile.

Harry quickly caught up with Josh and the walk to the car was quiet. But once they started driving on the highway, that's when the questions started.

"Nothing, we talked about the weather and things." Harry rolled his eyes, finally answering Joshua's questions of what they chatted about.

"That's a full out lie, but at least you answered. I'll ask Malik himself." 

Harry sighed and looked out the window, pulling his jacket to himself.  _Jacket_. The jacket that wasn't actually his, but Zayn's. Harry hummed in satisfaction at the smell of cologne and Zayn filling his nose. He thought about how he was going to give it back to him. But then he thought of Zayn's words  _see you soon._

He could give it back to him then. Or maybe he'd just keep it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i originally took this story off of wattpad, but saw someone wanted it continued on here where i didn't take it down, so here's another update. this story is kind of one where i write when i'm in the mood, so there won't be regular updates for this.

**Author's Note:**

> So the character cast is as follows:  
> Harry Styles - himself  
> Zayn Malik - himself  
> Kellan Lutz - Joshua Ross  
> Kate Beckinsale - Denise Styles  
> Shailene Woodley - Megan Walker  
> Matt Damon - Daniel Styles  
> Nikki Reed - Rain Collins  
> Dave Franco - Shawn Morgan
> 
> all the characters will be introduced later in the story :)


End file.
